Cutting means for mowing machines



April 7, 1925.

J. W. SHANBECK cumule MEANS FOR MowINc- MACHINES Filed Nov. 2, v1921 2 sheets-shut 1 April 7, 1925. 1,533,035

J. W. SHANBECK CUTTING MEANS FOR MOWINQ MACHINES rueduv. 2', 1921 2 shun-sw 2 l g'. Y

A TORN E YS Patented Apr. 7, 1925.

UNITED ,sFr/iras PATENT,

y JOHN .W."SHANBEGK, `OE 'FORT-WAY-NE, INDIANA.

CUTTING MEANS FOR MOWING MACHINES.

Application IedNoveniberQ, (1,921.. SeriarNo.v 512,249. i

strains `developed that .the parts-,will operate -rei'erred to, said means Comprising ay finger 'bar lOl-carrying the guards or fingers A11A lknives 12, l2'Ll distinguishedone `from the :Lother in particulars-'as will appear, lsaid knives being Y mounted on' 'y Vthey 'sickle bar i or Yknife arm '13 `and I employ as well ledger .plates 14e' and zsickle guides 'one of rwhich shown'and indicated byl the numeral f It will beobserved thatf they knives arefofl uniform Width-'at the heel-l as in ordinary y evenly. and smoothly 'without jerking and without the sickle and -pitman being-f subjectedvto undue strains. The stated object is 'attained"by"bringing rabout a" substantial v resistance throughout the cutting stroke by soforming equalization Aof the cutting andV arranging fthe` parts that not ailthev knives will have'l their' hardest Work at the same instant.duringV` a strokel ofthe sicl'rle, a part of the knives doing theirhardest work before the-'peakiofthe workof others fy the knives is reached, thereby not only rei'iev# ing thel cutting parts of uneveni strain but also relievingthe machine generally. "Inci-V dentally, this resultsv in givin/ga lighter draft and alongerllife to the Anfizfichine,'andfzalso, the liability ofthe machine chokingfd'own 'with hard-cutting grass is materially' re duced and 3 lost motion inf-theisickle iis' 1 to great; extent prevented.

Thenature yof the invention and-itsdistinctive features Land "advantages will-elearly appear asl the description:proceeds Reference' is toA be had, to the accompanying drawingsforiningf-apart of this specilioation, itbeing understoofdthat thedrawings are merelyiliustrative'of one'exampvle of ther invention. i

Figure l is a plan view' fof afportion of the cutting means of a f'mo'wer Vembodying my invention;

Figures 2 and are fragmentary-plan viewsrepresenting'two vvdifferent; positions `of the knives 'during a Astroke 'of fthe sickle bar; Q

Figure 4 yrepresentsatransverse vertical section of a `guard'or'finger at'ther'heel4 or rear end of theV ledger plate.

'In carrying out my invention in'acoordance with' the illustratedv example, Ifrempioy the essential elements ofi the` cuttin'gmeans usually employed Yin "mowing machines`except as vvmodified iirparticulars as hereinafter mowers but alternately-Wider Aand narrower at the' frontends, Also, it will be'observed that ones'idef edge Ia ofA ledgerfplates- `1.4 and that' portion ofthe adjacent side` edge b'lof ajguard lliin frontof thelledger plateare on 'the same- 'straight line `'passing'through the point of the-fhiger-whileat the opposite side theed'ge ol'ofr the ledger plate and that portion of the sideV edge bl'of the'iingeriill infront offthe ledger plate AareI either `.on

straight-'o1' cur'vili-nearllines at an-'angle, or

lie inV planes v'at anA angle to eachother, the plane ofsaid edge X21/passing through the point of-thekiingerfwhile'the plane ofthe adjacent edge il of theledgery platelliis a material distance'laterally of t-hepointof the'finger. Als o`,'it will*v be noted that each fingerll is'formed#wider-at one side ofthe medialfline than at the othersi'del of thel medial `-line, the finger having the greater Widtlrv bet-Ween the mediar line-alud,"y that side of' the iinger at f-vvhieh' the edge' of the ledger plate'and the forwardportion of the edgev of the iii-iger `vareinvy` planes *at* an angle toeachVother. *The said viingers lllyhowever, at the heel,itwrll be observed, are oil/"uniforniwidth. It is -furtherf'to be notedthat the variation inthe-two side edgesr of the y finger and ledger plate Aare reverse-d inI alter` nate iingersgand'ledger plates so that there is alternately a wider anda narrower space between the ledger plates-fand between the fingers attheledger plates. A further importantv point tobe observed is thatalthough thealternate 'knives1 (l2, 12a) l are Wider and narrower, attire fronteend nevertheless, at the 4end'of a stroke or'thr'ovv Zof the sickle bar, and knives, the medial lines offali the lmivesi-'correspond with the medial lines 'of the fingers or with .lines drawn Alen ;thwise of the fingers through thel points.

In v4operation vwith the cutting ineans forinedand arranged ras described-as the sickle bar 13 moves in a direction, say, toward the left of -the-iigures, l'u'hen'those knives having the wider front ends arrive corresponding side edges of those knivesr va considerable dista-nee plates,

' are 'ust'beginnino b 23 at the opposed side edges of lthe adjacent ledger plates 14, as. shown in Figure 2, the

having the narrower 'the knives having the wider front havelinished a .cutting kstroke 'in connection with `,the cutting edge on the adjacent. ledger plates and are passing into the guards or fingers, 'those knives having lthenarrower kfront ends have yet considerable cutting to do in the saine stroke. The same relative actions of the wider and` narrower knives are repeated at each throw or stroke of the sickle bar in each direction.

Those knives having they -will work between those ledger plates and between those lingers presenting the wider spaces. On the other hand the alter'- nate knives broadened at the front in accordance vwith. my invention operate between those ledger plates and those fingers presenting the narrower spaces.

' edge has j space of Figure `3 k'has in Figure 2 with the ledger plate 1li to the` Thoseknives with the wider front ends have a more acute slope at their cutting i edges than theknives with the narrower front ends and to offset this lesser slope the ledger plates at those edges disposed at the narrower space between the ledgerv plates will have a correspondingly greater slope from the hee-ls to the front ends of the ledger' plates; the result is .to give a. uniformangle to both series of knives relatively to the opposed cutting edges on the ledger plates. Thus, comparing Figure-s 2 andB, it will be noted that that knife at the right of the figures has a wide front end and its cutting ust approached the ledger yplate on the next finger to the left. A similar situation is found withrespect tol-the narrower lknife 1:2a at the central space of Figure Swhich latter knife has just arrived at the ledger plate, on the finger 11l to the left. It will be observed that the wider knife 12 at the right of yFigure 2 has the same position with respect to the ledger plate 14: to thegleft as the knife 12a in the central vto the ledger plate 1114 on the finger 11 next to the left, and it will be noted that the angleof the `said knife 12 left is the same as the angle of the knife 12t with the .ledger plate 1l to the left. In other words, it will be lseen that the cutting through,

to cut. Similarly, when the narrower frontV ends are so placed on the linger bar that spaces between vadjacent ledger angle is the same between all the knives and the cooperating ledger plates throughout the complete cutting mechanism and this angle corresponds with the cutting angle in mowing machinesgenerally.

Referring to Figure 4 it will be seen that the guards or fingers are formed at the underside to present a slight concavity at that side farthest `from the medial plane of the guard, this formation affording clearmud yand smaller stones to pass notwithstanding the reduced space between. the ledger plates at said concave side of the guard.

I would state in conclusion that while the illustrated example constitutes a practical embodimentof my invention, I do not limit' myself strictly to the exact details herein illustrated, since, manifestly, the saine can be considerably varied without departure from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims. l

Having thus described my invention, I claim: f 1. In a cutting means for mowers, a series ofV spaced l apart ledger plates, alternate spaces between adjacent ledger plates be-V ing equal in width and'adjacent spaces between adjacent ledger. plates being of different widths, a cutter bar, cutter blades secured to the bar and corresponding in num` berwith the spaces between adjacent ledger plates, each cutter blade being movable l across the space between two adjacent ledger plates. j j

2. In a cutting means for mowers, aseries of spaced apartl ledger plates, alternate spaces between'ladjacentledger' plates being equal in width `and adjacent spaces between ance j for adjacent ledger plates being of different .l

each cutter yblade being movable across. the

space between two adjacent ledger plates,

all of said blades being equal in width at their inner ends and bladesfwhich are movable across the narrowerspaces between adjacent ledger plates being ywider than the remaining blades.

3. In a cutting means for mowers, a series of spaced apart ledger plates, alternate adjacent ledger plates being and adjacent spaces between equal ink width widths, a cutter bar, cutter blades secured to the bar and corresponding in number with tliespaces between adjacent ledger plates, each cutter blade being movable across 'the j space between two adjacent ledger plates, and a guard finger .for each ledger plate, eachguard finger projecting at one side fartherA from a straight line extending between the middle points on the opposite ends ofthe finger than at the opposite side. j

yplates being of different 4. In a cutting means for mowers, a series of spaced apart ledger plates, alternate spaces between adjacent ledger plates being equal in width and adjacent spaces between adjacent ledger plates being of different widths, a cutter bar, cutter blades secured to the bar and corresponding in number with the spaces between adjacent ledger plates, each cutter blade being movable across the space between two adjacent ledger plates, and a guard linger for each ledger plate, each guard finger projecting at the side of the linger that is nearest to one of the narrower spaces between adjacent ledger plates than atthe other Side of the finger.

5. ln a cutting means for mowers, a series of spaced apart ledger plates, alternate spaces between adjacent ledger plates being equal in width and adjacent spaces between adjacent ledgen plates being of different widths, a cutter bar, cutter blades secured to the bar and corresponding in number with the spaces between adjacent ledger plates, each cutter blade being movable across the space between two adjacent ledger plates, and a guard finger for each ledger plate, each guard linger projecting at one side farther from a straight line extending between the middle points on the opposite ends of the inger than at the opposite side, each guard nger having a co-ncavity in the lateral face of its inner end portion.

JOHN WV. SHANBECK. 

